Ocean Shipping And Urban Changes In Shanghai (1850-1941)

Although the business of Shanghai ocean shipping had developed before the opening of the port,its scope was limited to the neighboring countries such as the Korean Peninsula and Japan.After the opening of Shanghai port in 1843,as the trade center shifted from Guangzhou to Shanghai,the ocean shipping center,as the carrier of Chinese and Western trade,also moved to Shanghai.In 1850,the Peninsular and Oriental Company extended the regular ocean route between London and Hong Kong to Shanghai.It marked the beginning of the history of regular ocean shipping in modern Shanghai.Based on the development of shipping industry in modern Shanghai,the competition of shipping enterprises,the replacement of ships,the expansion of routes,and the transformation of ocean trade structure are the main points.Through the analysis and exploration of the development and vicissitude of modern Shanghai ocean shipping,this paper discusses the influence of the modern Shanghai ocean shipping industry in the process of modern Shanghai's urban transformation.Before the 1870 s,the operators of the business of Shanghai ocean shipping were mainly foreign firms in Shanghai.And they monopolized the import and export trade of Shanghai with their strong power.In transport carriers,which are mainly sailboats,and in order to improve efficiency and capture markets,foreign firms were racing to use a flying clipper designed to transport opium and tea.In the aspect of cargo transportation,mainly imported opium and western industrial products,and mainly opium;Exports were mainly Chinese tea and raw silk.In 1850 the Peninsular and Oriental Company set up regular route between Shanghai and Europe,this showed that professional shipping companies had started to intervene in the ocean trade in Shanghai.However,it was not until the early 1970 s that no matter whether it was the Peninsular and Oriental Company's thriving or competing with the Messageries Maritimes and British Ocean Steam Company,that due to the small weight of the ship and the high cost of freight,the professional steamship company was not the main carrier of Shanghai ocean transportation in this period.After the 1870 s,with the opening of the Suez Canal,the submarine cable was successfully laid between Europe and Asia and the large use of ships which the development and change of these transportation,communication tools and shipbuilding technology that made the business of Shanghai ocean shipping had entered a new era.Since then,the ship instead of sailing gradually became the main carriers of Shanghai ocean shipping.And the professional shipping companies had also gradually replaced the foreign firms as the main operators of Shanghai shipping industry.After the SinoJapanese War of 1894-1895,Shanghai ocean shipping had entered the stage of all-round development.On the one hand,it was the formation of the Pacific Ocean route and the formation of the global ocean shipping network centered on Shanghai.Some countries had developed and others had declined in the competition for ocean-going shipping centered in Shanghai.This was mainly reflected in the competition of multinational shipping forces before the first World War.During the first World War,Britain and Japan competed for hegemony.After the first World War,Britain,Japan and the United States competed for shipping hegemony.With the improvement and development of ocean shipping conditions,there had also been a radical change in ocean shipping goods during this period.In the field of import,it was gradually converted from opium and Western light industrial products into machine equipment,chemical products,fuel,hardware and other production materials.The export was also gradually converted from raw silk and tea to other agricultural and sideline products,as well as some industrial products.After the outbreak of Anti-Japanese War,the business of Shanghai ocean shipping had entered a special period of development.After the outbreak of the war,most of the ocean-going shipping companies had suspended the Shanghai ocean business for a time.But as the war shifted,the ocean shipping industry in Shanghai was quickly restored and developed,and the degree of development was even more than before the war.After the outbreak of war,Japan completely controlled China's inland waterway shipping and coastal shipping.However,the only reason why it did not block Shanghai's oceangoing shipping was to make Shanghai a transit station for wartime strategic materials.This was Japan's wartime as much as possible in order to obtain strategic supplies and had to make a choice.It was a choice that Japan had to make in order to get as much of its strategic needs as possible in wartime,in order to achieve the purpose of the "war by war".Ocean shipping is the link and channel of direct communication between Chinese and western political,economic and cultural exchanges and development.Under the restriction of social conditions at that time,the oceangoing ships gradually brought the Western civilization,such as western advanced system,idea and culture to China,and then made the ancient agricultural civilization start colliding with the advanced industrial civilization.At the same time,the ocean shipping vessels brought China tea,silk and other bulk raw materials products into the western society,which made Oriental civilization gradually integrate into western society.As the center of modern ocean shipping,Shanghai had also played an important role in communicating the political,economic and cultural exchanges and development between China and the west.In communication,it had a direct impact on the local traditional shipping industry in Shanghai and the construction of the port city in modern Shanghai.The ocean shipping industry in modern Shanghai was mainly operated by foreignowned steamship enterprises under the circumstance of declining national power and shipping sovereignty.Therefore,it had certain colonization and predacity.On the other hand,the development of modern Shanghai ocean shipping also made Shanghai as a hub city successfully connect China with the world.In the process of the development of modern globalization,with the continuous development of ocean trade,Shanghai and even China had been brought into the tide of globalization.